REFRESH FRIDAY: IVICA KOSTELIĆ & JANICA KOSTELIĆ
Ivica Kostelić born 23 November 1979 in Zagreb (Croatia) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer. His specialisms were slalom and combined.
Together with his sister Janica he learned skiing the nearby hill Sljeme.
In the beginning of his career he was a technical specialist, GS and racing only slalom, burt developed himself also more in speed events including downhill. His big breakthrough came in 2002. And in the seasons following, he scored in total 26 World Cup race victories and 59 World Cup podiums.
But also his results at the Olymipcs may not be forgotten. 2006 Turin: 1 silver medal at combined. 2010 Vancouver: 2 silver medals at combined and slalom. 2014 Sochi: 1 silver medal at combined.During his career his father Ante Kostelić was one of his coaches.
In 2006 he passed the entrance exam at the University of Zagreb to become a part-time student of History.
There was never an offical retirement, but his last race was in 2017.
Currently he is also one of the coaches of the Croatian national team.
Also his sister Janica Kostelić was a skiing champion. She was born in Zagreb (Croatia) on 5 January 1982. Her specialism were slalom, giant slalom, Super-G, downhill and combined.
She was just three years old when she started skiing and training at the age of 9. She quickly became successfull at junior competitions. She was 16 when she was selected for the Croation team fort he Olymics in Nagano in 1998.
Her father Ante Kostelic was also her coach just like her brother.
She is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and four-time Olympic gold medalist (the only woman so far in one Olympic game). In total she won 30 World Cup races: 20 in slalom, 6 in combined, 2 in giant slalom, 1 in super-G and 1 in downhill
2006 was her last season, because of chronic knee and back pain. In total she got 10 knee surgeries. She retired at the age of 25 in April 2007. Because of the many surgeries she had 2004 was the only year she was not recognized as “Croatian Sportswoman if the Year” in the years between 1998 to 2006.
Due to her successes the whole ski community naming her the greatest female ski racer of all time.
Nowadays she is the State Secretary of Science, Education and Sportd in the Croation Government.
